This fonds is composed of 23 interviews on 28 audio cassette tapes, accompanied by a thematic index. The Sephardic Jews interviewed for the project came from several different places: Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Romania, and Israel. The interviews cover the subjec…

This fonds is composed of 23 interviews on 28 audio cassette tapes, accompanied by a thematic index. The Sephardic Jews interviewed for the project came from several different places: Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Romania, and Israel. The interviews cover the subjects' early lives in North Africa and the Middle East and the difficulties the interviewees met with in their home country. They also speak of their adaptation experiences following immigration to Quebec. They discuss the importance of holding on to their religion in their community and in their lives, and also the ways in which they preserved their traditions.

Date

1988.

Fonds No.

CJC0001

Series No.

SA

History Biographical

The National Archives of the Canadian Jewish Congress (now called the Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives) aims to acquire and preserve documentation on the myriad facets of the Jewish presence in Canada and Quebec. It is in this light that the Archives of the Canadian Jewish Congress set up the project Oral History of the Sephardic community in February 1988. Marie Berdugo-Cohen was engaged to interview various people of the Sephardic Jewish community settled in Montreal and its surroundings. Mrs. Berdugo-Cohen was born in Morocco. After settling in Quebec, she co-wrote, with her daughter Yolande Cohen and with Yossi Levy, the book Juifs Marocains: Témoignages d'une immigration moderne, published in 1987. Mrs. Berdugo-Cohen passed away in Montreal in 1991.

Custodial History

This collection of interviews was created with the assistance of a grant from Employent and Immigration Canada in 1988.

Notes

Availability of other formats: As of February 2016 all of the interviews have been digitized as WAV and WMA files. Video clips have been made containing excerpts from some of the recordings (eg. Simone Harrosh, Meyer Benhaim).General note: After completing the digitization of this collection, a six minute audio montage was created featuring several of the interviewees speaking about their adaptation to life in Canada.